The service life of gears is vital to the efficiency, productivity, dependability, operational reliability, and economy of robots, machines, and plants. A long service life minimises unexpected downtime, cuts the cost of repairs and spare parts, increases machine and plant availability, and reduces life cycle costs.

Advantages of long-lasting gears:

• Less unscheduled downtime
• Improved operational reliability
• Reduced service cost
• More stable process quality
• Increased machine and plant availability
• More resource-conserving production
• Low total cost of ownership (TCO)

What factors affect the service life of gears?

Service life hinges on a variety of factors. One key element is the gear itself. How is it constructed? Which materials were used? How precise was its design and manufacturing? Other factors that come into play are the conditions of operation and environment. How high are speed and load? Are load changes frequent? Is the environment dusty or humid? Last but not least, a lot also depends on the hands of the user - especially when it comes to operation, lubrication, and maintenance. Ultimately, all of these factors have to work in concert to assure the best possible reliability, availability, process stability, and economy.

Factors that impact service life:

• Operating conditions: Speed, acceleration, load changes, overload, operating temperature
• Ambient conditions: Dirt, dust, moisture, vibrations, impact, corrosion
• Quality of materials
• Design and manufacturing
• Design of the gear
• Mode of operation
• Load profile
• Lubrication
• Oil grade
• Assembly
• Maintenance and care

Ways to extend the life of your gear

Wear, corrosion, and material fatigue cannot be prevented entirely. However, the appropriate measures may let you increase the service life of your gears substantially. We show you the most important levers you can pull – from compliance with the manufacturer's recommendations to the correct choice of lubricant and demand-based load management to condition monitoring.

Selection of the gear

Choose a manufacturer who offers high material and manufacturing quality, excellent engineering expertise, and many years of experience. This ensures that you will acquire gears of premium quality that suit your needs best. Does your application require maximum precision? Then our cycloidal gears and strain wave gears are the perfect choice.

Operation

Follow the manufacturer's specifications, recommendations, and safety information. Avoid constant overloads, jerky load changes, and shock loads. Use soft start/stop to reduce load peaks. Do not exceed the temperature limits specified by the manufacturer. Make sure to apply appropriate protection, sealing and coating concepts in corrosive or dusty environments.

Assembly

Pay attention to the correct alignment and tension-free assembly. Incorrect assembly will result in uneven load and premature wear.

Lubrication

Provide for adequate and correct lubrication. Otherwise, you run the risk of unnecessary friction, premature wear, and overheating. Use high-quality oil with appropriate viscosity and suitable additives for your application and change the oil regularly. Monitor oil level and oil temperature. Our specially developed lubricants are optimally tailored to a wide variety of applications and ensure a long service life and high precision of your gears.

Maintenance and care

Perform regular maintenance and inspections – especially on bearings and seals. This effectively arms your gears against wear and leaks. Condition monitoring concepts give you the added plus of security. The permanent monitoring of the state of the gears allows for targeted optimisation of quality, efficiency, and productivity – continuously during operation. To accomplish this, we offer you volume-neutral strain wave gears along with an add-on for robot control that lets you keep a firm eye on your cycloidal gears.

Longevity and sustainability

Long-lasting gears ensure trouble-free and economical operation. As an added bonus: they add their share to sustainable production. After all, a long life means less need to purchase new equipment, lower maintenance expenses, and less use of materials, energy, and resources throughout the life cycle of a machine or robot.

Would you like to learn more about the service life of gears, or do you have questions relating to a specific project? Do not hesitate to contact our experts.